Shop from anywhere with League of Legends’ grumpy demigod Ornn

Riot invest so much in the rollout of new and revamped champions that I’m always curious to see which stories and personalities have joined the League of Legends[official site] fray. Ornn is a grumpy, fluffy blacksmith demigod who appears to be channelling my horrible I-have-a-cold-and-don’t-you-dare-make-reasonable-demands-of-me mood. I’ll go through his kit in a moment (there’s a brand new debuff to play with and a massive elemental ram made of fire), but first let’s just watch the champ reveal video and come to terms with the fact that Riot seem to have tapped my recent chat history for his voice lines.

I *DO* now like you less and I *DIDN’T* think that was possible.

Uncanny.

Passive: Living Forge & Master Craftsman

Living Forge is the thing which means Ornn doesn’t have to go to a specific location to shop. Instead he forges whatever the item is for himself (the gold price thus being… the cost of materials, maybe? or the material itself? He just has to be out of combat to do so.

Master Craftsman riffs on the idea that Ornn is amazing at all this crafting stuff to let him and his teammates upgrade specific items in the shop. Depending on what those items are, that feels like it has the ability to really affect power spikes in the game and, potentially, the late-game potential of champs.

Q: Volcanic Rupture

“Ornn slams the ground, sending out a fissure that deals physical damage and slows enemies. After a small delay, a magma pillar forms at the target location, functioning like a tiny wall for a few seconds.”

It’s a damage and slow in a line with a pop-up obstacle at the far end.

W: Bellows Breath

“Ornn becomes unstoppable, shields himself, and belches out flames. These flames deal a portion of the enemy’s current health as magic damage. Enemies struck by the final gout of flame become Brittle. Ornn’s basic attacks knock back Brittle targets.”

This one is a flamethrower from the face. Ornn does a little burp at the end which is the final gout of flame that applies the Brittle effect. Brittle status makes enemies take bonus damage from immobilising effects, and makes the immobilisation last longer.

E: Searing Charge

“Ornn charges, dealing damage to enemies he passes through. If Ornn collides with terrain while charging, the impact creates a shockwave that deals damage and knocks up enemies. This ability destroys player-created terrain.”

It’s a charge which deals damage in a line and has the potential to knock up enemies if you run into a wall. These abilities always make me wonder whether knock up means the same in the US as in the UK. I mean, there was a whole film called Knocked Up. It must do.

R: Call of the Forge God

“Ornn summons a massive fire elemental at a target location. It then travels toward him with increasing speed. Enemies run over by the elemental take magic damage and become Brittle.”

“Ornn can recast this ability to charge forward. If he strikes the elemental with the charge, he’ll redirect it. The redirected elemental will then knock up all struck enemies, dealing the same damage as before and applying the Brittle effect.”

It’s a big old fire ram which runs from the specified point towards Ornn, trampling them for magic damage and making them Brittle. If he hits R again he runs towards the ram and can buffet it in the opposite direction applying another round of damage, Brittle debuffs and knocking up enemies who already got struck.

You can start to see the combo potential in some of the abilities – Volcanic Rupture’s little hiccup of terrain can combine with Searing Charge to create a wall to trigger the latter’s knock up shockwave.

The ability to forge items rather than having to recall to base also means he might never need to leave his lane in the early game (unless healing or rotating elsewhere). It’ll be so weird seeing this non-base shopping stuff in League in some capacity given Dota is a game comprised of arguing over/managing a magic donkey which grants the same function.